Armstrong brings basketball pedigree to Lions

Published: Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 12:15 a.m.

Arkia Armstrong was destined to be a basketball player. The sport of basketball was in her DNA. She has been around the game since she was old enough to remember.

Her father, Darrell, was a 14-year NBA veteran with the Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets. He scored 7,712 points and dished out 3,394 career assists. He earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1999. He is currently an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks, and was a part of the 2012 championship team.

“She obviously has good bloodlines and good genes,” Wallace State-Hanceville coach Ron Burdette said. “She plays a lot like her dad did. He was a defensive specialist, and she really comes in and really gets after it. She is a spark plug and the sixth man off the bench, like her dad.”

Armstrong said she came by her passion for basketball without being pushed by her father.

“I fell in love with the game and started playing when I was young,” Armstrong said. “My dad never forced me to play the game, but when I started playing he was very supportive of me and has always been my biggest fan.”

After moving from city to city because of Darrell’s NBA career, the Armstrongs settled down outside Atlanta so Arkia could have a stable high school life.

“The hardest part was always moving from place to place,” she recalled.

Armstrong was a three-year starter at Eagles Landing High School in McDonough, Ga. She signed a Division I scholarship with Texas Southern University but had issues with her transcript and was not immediately eligible. After one semester, she followed a friend to Wallace-Hanceville. She had to sit out last year while Wallace State captured the Alabama Community College Conference championship and played in the national tournament in Salina, Kan.

“When I got to Wallace-Hanceville, they were deep into their season and I wasn’t really sure what to do,” Armstrong said. “My role was to observe and learn the system. I tried to take it all in so I would know what to expect this season.”

Armstrong said she is just a normal college kid playing basketball.

“When I first move to a new place, people probably think I’m stuck up,” she said. “Once they get to know me, they see me as a normal kid. My dad is the same way. He is just a regular guy who happens to have a really cool job.”

That cool job comes with some perks, too.

Last summer, Arkia got to spend time with her dad during the NBA playoffs. She saw Dallas win the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City and was in Dallas and Miami for the NBA Finals, including the series-clinching win in Miami.

“That was a real crazy time,” she said. “I was hanging out with my dad and watching the Mavericks win the NBA title. It was a special time for both of us.”

<p>Arkia Armstrong was destined to be a basketball player. The sport of basketball was in her DNA. She has been around the game since she was old enough to remember.</p><p>Her father, Darrell, was a 14-year NBA veteran with the Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets. He scored 7,712 points and dished out 3,394 career assists. He earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1999. He is currently an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks, and was a part of the 2012 championship team.</p><p>“She obviously has good bloodlines and good genes,” Wallace State-Hanceville coach Ron Burdette said. “She plays a lot like her dad did. He was a defensive specialist, and she really comes in and really gets after it. She is a spark plug and the sixth man off the bench, like her dad.”</p><p>Armstrong said she came by her passion for basketball without being pushed by her father.</p><p>“I fell in love with the game and started playing when I was young,” Armstrong said. “My dad never forced me to play the game, but when I started playing he was very supportive of me and has always been my biggest fan.”</p><p>After moving from city to city because of Darrell's NBA career, the Armstrongs settled down outside Atlanta so Arkia could have a stable high school life.</p><p>“The hardest part was always moving from place to place,” she recalled.</p><p>Armstrong was a three-year starter at Eagles Landing High School in McDonough, Ga. She signed a Division I scholarship with Texas Southern University but had issues with her transcript and was not immediately eligible. After one semester, she followed a friend to Wallace-Hanceville. She had to sit out last year while Wallace State captured the Alabama Community College Conference championship and played in the national tournament in Salina, Kan.</p><p>“When I got to Wallace-Hanceville, they were deep into their season and I wasn't really sure what to do,” Armstrong said. “My role was to observe and learn the system. I tried to take it all in so I would know what to expect this season.”</p><p>Armstrong said she is just a normal college kid playing basketball.</p><p>“When I first move to a new place, people probably think I'm stuck up,” she said. “Once they get to know me, they see me as a normal kid. My dad is the same way. He is just a regular guy who happens to have a really cool job.”</p><p>That cool job comes with some perks, too.</p><p>Last summer, Arkia got to spend time with her dad during the NBA playoffs. She saw Dallas win the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City and was in Dallas and Miami for the NBA Finals, including the series-clinching win in Miami.</p><p>“That was a real crazy time,” she said. “I was hanging out with my dad and watching the Mavericks win the NBA title. It was a special time for both of us.”</p>